# Edmund Fitzgerald **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 30, 2002, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463 "2002-04-30T13:18:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LiquidLobotomy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/898d66/32.png) [@LiquidLobotomy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiquidLobotomy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463/1 "2002-04-30T13:18:08Z")
Was the ship in that ole Gordon Lightfoot song (The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald) real? Did such a ship sink a hundred or so years ago? ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463/2 "2002-04-30T13:22:58Z")
Totally real. Check out [this site](http://web.msu.edu/bell/history.html) for details. One of the cable stations did a facinating story on this a few years back. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463/3 "2002-04-30T13:39:07Z")
Gordon Lightfoot’s [_The Ballad of the Yarmouth Castle_](http://www3.pei.sympatico.ca/wfrancis/lightfoot/balyarcs.htm) was about an [actual ship](http://www.rmstitanichistory.com/yarmouth/yarmouth.html) as well. ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463/4 "2002-04-30T13:55:52Z")
Try thirty or so years ago… ---
**Author:** ![LiquidLobotomy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/898d66/32.png) [@LiquidLobotomy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiquidLobotomy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463/5 "2002-04-30T14:07:09Z")
Thanks! Eh, 30, 100 years ago…who’s counting… ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463/6 "2002-04-30T15:17:15Z")
The _Ballad Of Apollo XIII_ was a little more recent, too. 😉 One of my favorites… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463/7 "2002-04-30T15:32:03Z")
Damn! I didn’t know GL did a song about the sinking of the **Yarmouth Castle**! I sailed on that ship! **Life** magazine did a several-page spread on the sinking at the time. ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463/8 "2002-04-30T16:00:37Z")
Nothing significant ot add here, 'cept I went to high school with a girl whose dad died on the EF. In one class while learning about local history, a teacher played the Lightfoot song w/o realizing this girl’s history. When someone told him, he apologized profusely, though she didn’t seem that upset really. I suppose she had somewhat gotten used to it, as she was only about 3 or 4 when he died. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463/9 "2002-04-30T17:45:38Z")
That song creeped me out as a kid. Who was the ship named after? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463/10 "2002-04-30T17:47:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Who was the ship named after? Edmund Fitzgerald. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463/11 "2002-04-30T17:51:38Z")
Sorry. I couldn’t resist. 😃 [From this site](http://detnews.com/history/fitz/fitz.htm): > [@](#): > > The Edmund Fitzgerald was christened June 8,1958 and launched (sideways) June 17 into the Detroit River. **It was named after the new board chairman of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company** of Milwaukee, whose grandfather and five great uncles had been ship captains. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463/12 "2002-04-30T18:37:58Z")
slight hijack- saw Gordon Lightfoot on a TV show recently. Egads, he looked horrible! About 90 lbs and looked like he went through a ringer! * * * There is nothing “secret” or “special” about 1000 island dressing. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edmund-fitzgerald/106463/13 "2002-04-30T20:26:44Z")
I love that song, but the wreck itselfs creeps me out. I love reading about shipwrecks, and watching documentaries on them (like the _Lusitania_, _Titanic_, etc), but when they show footage from the wreckage, it just scares me. Especially, for some reason the “_Fitz_.” I have nightmares where I look outside my window, and instead of seeing my front yard, I see nothing but black ocean and the wreck of the _Titanic_ or the _Empress of Ireland_ about five feet away. _shudder_